“Very impressive,” Robert said, sliding down on his butt to simulate how Ford would do it for real. It worked. Robert slid right out of the back of the G650, and walked around outside to the stairs.
“Hey, put it back up,” Robert yelled inside the jet from the outside. He then walked to the back of the jet as the ramp went up.
Vrrrrrrr ffffft.
No evidence of a ramp at all in sight. Robert then walked up the stairs, and saw the seats were just as they were before they started.
“Friggin great. This is incredible,” he said, happy with the work Gulfstream did in such a short amount of time.
“You like, eh?” Reggie said, laughing, and one again holding his belly with both his hands.
“Works like a champ. Say, Ford will be here later and prepped for departure in the morning. Any last minute questions, Lurch?” Robert asked.
Lurch already had his pre-mission planning meeting with Andrew. They were all supportive of the flight. “None that I can think of. Let’s get a test flight under our belts. Work out any kinks. If she works, it’s a go… let’s launch,” Lurch replied.
“Thanks for your help and support, Lurch. This means a lot. Appreciate your efforts,” Robert said, as he shook his hand. “Reggie, thank you, sir.”
“Go give her a test flight. If ops test is good, God speed,” Reggie replied, giving Robert a hug.
“If she’s good, you leave in the morning. We’ll get Ford back down here,” Robert announced.
Mark arranged for Emily, Robert and himself to rendezvous at Los Angeles International Airport, LAX, before heading to Hawaii together on a commercial flight. Robert flew in from Atlanta, while Mark and Emily flew in from Dulles Washington.
“Hey. Welcome to California,” Mark said to Robert as they met at Terminal 7 to board the United Airlines flight westbound. Robert looked like he’d been up for days.
“Thanks, Mark. Guys back in Savannah did a bang-up job. Real nice work. Engineers and techs built it just like we designed… ah, and we tested it last yesterday afternoon. Worked terrific,” Robert said, then putting his head down for a drink at the fountain.
“Impressive. Well, Ford’s ready. He did his practice jumps yesterday. Had a bit of an issue with his primary chute, but all good on the secondary. He loved the squirrel suit… the wing suit. Looked like a fruit cake, but it works great,” Mark shared.
Emily listened in as they walked in the terminal, stopping at the Gordon Bierch Restaurant near their Gate in Terminal 1. “He was way below a 1,000 feet when it opened. Yanked the secondary chute and made it,” she added. “His remaining jumps were normal.”
They sat down and looked at the menu, then quickly ordered a few drinks. Mark was already thinking of the logistics of landing in Hawaii, then getting out to the aircraft carrier. His phone was already in his hand, and he scanned through the numbers until he reached the DIA Operations Center, and dialed.
“Listen, I’m concerned that we are going to be talking in a public place about this stuff, so let’s watch each other. No one around when we talk, especially on this call I need to make, good?” Mark told them.
“You got it boss,” Robert replied for both of them.
Mark already had the phone to his ear. “Hey, Mark S. here. I’ll give you my ID in a sec. Need to be patched to U.S. Pacific Command Operations Center.” He covered the phone, and whispered to the group about ordering off the menu.
“One moment, sir,” replied the Watch Officer on phone duty. “I can see your caller ID, and you’re coming up as green in the computer. I’ll connect you now.”
“Thank you.”
“PACOM, this is DIA Operations Center. Sending you a call from Mark S. Go ahead, Mark.”
Mark listened in until it was his turn to speak. “Good afternoon, PACOM. Mark from DIA calling for the Admiral. He is expecting my call.” He pulled the phone off his ear and glanced at the screen again, ensuring he was green on the encryption. He covered the phone with his hand, and whispered, “Emily, get me a burger and a Golden Blonde, please. I’m waiting for the Admiral.”
Emily did as requested as they waited for the Admiral.
“Hello, Admiral. Mark from DIA calling,” he said quietly in the crowded restaurant.
“Hi Mark, how are things coming along?” Admiral Matthew McDevitt, the Pacific Command Theater Commander.
“Good, sir. Very good. Just wanted to touch base verbally with you on the plan. Your aide has it in an email, but big picture, we are coming now via commercial flight to Honolulu. The Command is picking us up for the G IV flight to Kadena in Okinawa, then a C-2 Greyhound flight to the Lincoln. The package will arrive sometime tomorrow night to the Lincoln.”
“Understand, Mark. My aide has been keeping me informed. My J3 tells me we’re a go, but, as you can imagine, I have issues. A few issues. So, you non-flying DIA types have planned to just have them come in here and land her? Look, I’m all for supporting your mission. Supporting DIA. Certainly, grabbing her, but, ahh, to use a ship to do it is near excessive risk.”
Mark remained silent due to operational security, or OPSEC, as he was in the corner of a public restaurant.
“My J3 also tells me to trust your pilot, and, and to also trust you. So. I’ll still approve it, but I want your pilot doing everything he can to make it safe. Do I have reservations, Mark? You bet your ass I do. But, I understand it’s a… mitigated risk… and I’m a risk taker. So. Any issues, call my aide again and we’ll trouble shoot,” said the Admiral.
“Thanks, sir. Appreciate your help and support on this. The Deputy sends his best,” Mark said, nodding thank you to the waitress who dropped off the beer.
The Admiral cleared his throat. “Mark, you never know what’s going to happen out there. As I just shared, I’m a bit uncomfortable of them zipping around the pattern without a tailhook. Not unheard of, so we do have a plan in place. But for Christ’s sake… they are going to come running out of the China airspace like a rabbit being chased by fox. Fighters could be all over their asses. Missiles. Electronic warfare gear blasting crap all over the God damn place. Who knows? No matter what, the Lincoln CO is going to be prepared, so I just need to warn you now, things could get dicey. I’m ensuring Gettysburg is around to protect Lincoln. And Lincoln CO is sending up at least a section of F-18 Hornets, at a minimum, to protect the ship. I’ll also have a few F-22’s out of Kadena.”
“We understand, sir. Ahh, I’ve also talked with your J3 about the portion of the plan that involves the airdrop,” Mark said, looking at Emily.
Emily threw a look to Robert and whispered. “Airdrop? You know anything about that?” Emily looked at Robert. He shook his head no.
“Okay, Mark. Take care. Safety, got it? Out,” said the Admiral, as the call ended.
The waitress came back again, this time dropping off some appetizers that they ordered. Emily waited until she left, and took a swig of her wine. Robert held up his beer, and they did cheers silently without a verbal toast. They all knew what they were happy about so far. Mark ensured his phone was disconnected, and waited until they were completely alone.
“What’s this airdrop you and the Admiral just talked about?” Emily asked quietly.
Mark thought about their location, and made a decision to talk quietly at the airport restaurant. “Look, this isn’t necessarily the best place to be talking about this stuff, so I’ll make it quiet and quick,” Mark said nearly whispering. “While I was sitting in Suffolk, it hit me that we needed some type of diversion out at sea. A Devil Dragon wreckage. If Chen is the bastard that Wu makes him out to be, he’s going to be pissed off with a capital P. That weasel will want proof that his jet landed someplace or crashed. So I contacted the Embassy in Tokyo, and got a hold of the FBI LegAtt. They are getting two corpses from the Tokyo morgue to….”